1. On the world of spirits, see note 3 in §0. [LHC]

1. The Latin word here translated "secrets" is arcana, which generally refers to sacred secrets or mysteries; the English equivalent, "arcana," has a similar sense, but has come to have a more limited use. Most previous translations of this work retained the Latin title Arcana Coelestia, literally, "heavenly arcana." [RS]

2. Although the use of the term "the Word" for the Bible was common in Swedenborg's time, his conception of "the Word" does not include all the books of which the Bible is generally understood to be composed. He generally limits his definition of "the Word" to those parts of Scripture that he believes to have an inner meaning throughout: the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the historical books (Joshua, Judges, 1, 2 Samuel, 1, 2 Kings), the Psalms, the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), and Revelation. He thus omits certain parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, such as 1, 2 Chronicles, Ruth, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon, as well as the writings of the apostles in the Greek Scriptures. For a discussion of his reasons for these omissions, see his letter to his friend Gabriel Beyer (1720-1779) dated April 15, 1766, cited in Acton 1948-1955, 612-613, and quoted in the introduction to this volume, pages 86-87 [NCBSP: in the printed edition]. On the use of the term "the Lord" in Swedenborg's writings, see note 2 in §1. [GFD, RS]

3. Swedenborg describes the next world as being divided into three major areas: heaven, hell, and a middle region called the world of spirits (see §5852, for example). A fourth area could be added: the "underground realm" (see note 2 in §247). [LHC] In his 1758 work Heaven and Hell 421, Swedenborg says, "The world of spirits is neither heaven nor hell but a place or state between the two. It is where we first arrive after death, being in due time either raised into heaven or cast into hell from it depending on our life in this world." (The translations from Heaven and Hell quoted in these notes are those of George F. Dole.) Angels form an extremely important part of Swedenborg's metaphysical system. Key aspects of his thought in this regard are that angels are persons in the strict sense, not abstract forces or entities. They have bodies as we do, and even wear clothing and live in houses in heaven (Heaven and Hell 73-77, 177-190). Moreover, angels were not originally created as such: every angel was at one point a person alive either on this earth or on some other planet (see his 1758 work Other Planets 1). Much of Swedenborg's information about the unseen worlds is reported in the form of conversations with angels. [RS]

4. Swedenborg later came to refer to these "accounts of the wonders ... seen in the world of spirits and in the heaven of angels" with the Latin term memorabilia. Traditionally they have been referred to in English as either "memorabilia" or "memorable relations;" in the annotations to this edition they are called "accounts of memorable occurrences," or some variation of that term. (Strictly speaking, the first separate "memorable occurrences" distinctly labeled in small capitals in the first editions appeared in Swedenborg's 1766 work Revelation Unveiled, but the term has since been applied to the shorter accounts embedded in his previous material.) Because of their basis in Swedenborg's spiritual experiences, these accounts are also sometimes referred to as "experiential" material (as opposed to doctrinal or exegetical). Swedenborg apparently saw the experiential material in the Secrets of Heaven volumes as the reader's easiest avenue of access to the work; in order to distinguish it, he had it printed in italics, in slightly larger type, and with more space between the lines. In this table of experiential material in the first volume, the first edition (the Latin edition of 1749) cites the passages by page number, an odd exception to Swedenborg's customary use of section numbers to refer to his text. He may have felt that the use of page numbers would make these topics more accessible to the browsing reader. The corresponding section numbers have been substituted in this edition. It should be noted that this first volume of the present edition contains about half the material in the first volume of Swedenborg's edition; so that when he here refers to "accounts of the wonders" (Latin mirabilia) appearing "in this first volume," the reader must understand that the passages cited after §946 appear now in volume 2. The same applies to the section numbers cited just above in the text. [SS]

5. Swedenborg describes heaven as having the form of a single human being, which he calls maximus homo, here translated "universal human." See §§550, 911:2, and the sections referred to here by Swedenborg. See also note 1 in §318 below. [LHC]

1. This edition follows Swedenborg's practice of referring to the Hebrew Scriptures as the Old Testament and the Greek Scriptures as the New Testament. On the meaning of the term "the Word," see note 2 in §0. [JSR]

2. "The Lord" here refers to Jesus Christ. Although Swedenborg's theology is thoroughly monotheistic, to denote God he uses many names and terms from philosophical and biblical backgrounds (God, the Divine Being, the Deity, the Divine Human, the One, the Infinite, the First, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Savior, Jehovah, God Shaddai, and many more). The most frequently occurring term, however, is "the Lord" (Latin Dominus). Here and generally throughout, "the Lord" refers to Jesus Christ as the visible manifestation of the one and only God. See §14. For a brief summary of Swedenborg's theology, see True Christianity 2-3. [JSR, RS]

3. The idea that Scripture possesses an inner meaning is an ancient one. Some of the earliest interpretations of the Bible using such a method come from Philo of Alexandria (also known as Philo Judaeus; around 20 b.c.e.-around 50 c.e.), whose works interpret Scripture in the light of Greek philosophy. The most significant accounts of the Bible's inner meaning in early Christianity come from the church fathers Clement of Alexandria (about 150-between 211, 215 c.e.) and Origen (about 185-about 254 c.e.). Origen wrote, "Among those narratives which appear to be recorded literally there are inserted and interwoven others which cannot be accepted as history but which contain a spiritual meaning" (Origen, On First Principles, book 4, chapter 3, in Origen 1966, 290). For a discussion of the similarities between Swedenborg's perspective on the Bible and those of the church fathers, see Tulk 1994, 19-33. Another influential exposition of the inner meaning of Genesis appears in the compendium of Jewish mystical knowledge known as the Sefer ha-Zohar, or "Book of Splendor," attributed to the circle of Rabbi Moses de Leon (about 1250-1305) in thirteenth-century Spain. The Zohar is the principal work of the Kabbala, the mystical doctrine of Judaism. According to Kabbalistic teaching, there are four levels of meaning to Scripture, ranging from the literal to the mystical (see Matt 2004 and Scholem 1974, 174). Swedenborg's familiarity with these earlier sources is a matter of scholarly debate, but it is generally acknowledged that he had at least a broad conception of them, and indeed his interpretations often accord with them (see Lamm [1915] 2000, 55-58, 227-231). On the other hand, although he himself does occasionally show awareness of theories of an inner meaning much like his own (see, for example, §606), he repeatedly insists that his theology is derived from personal spiritual experience. [RS]

4. For instances in which the inner meaning of sacrifices is explained, see Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, and Luke 22:19-20, where Jesus refers to the bread and wine of the Passover meal as his body and blood. He also uses the term "blood of the covenant," which recalls a sacrifice offered by Moses just after he received the Ten Commandments, as described in Exodus 24:4-8. See also Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 7:27; 9:26. [LHC, JLO] The Epistle to the Hebrews draws an elaborate analogy between the sacrifices ordained by the Mosaic Law and Christ's sacrifice, adding that the Law is "a shadow of good things to come," that is, of Christ's Coming; see Hebrews 9; 10:1. (The term "the Law," so capitalized, refers loosely to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and in particular to the injunctions of divine worship laid on the Jewish people there.) [RS]

5. See Luke 23:43, where Jesus on the cross promises a criminal who is also being executed, "Today you will be with me in paradise." See also Revelation 2:7. [LHC, JLO] The word paradise comes from a Persian word meaning "park" or "enclosure;" it appears in Hebrew as פַּרְדֵּס (pardēs) and in Greek as παράδεισος (parádeisos). Early on, however, it came to serve as a metaphor for heaven. [RS]